Inside The Bills

Bills head coach Doug Marrone was pointing to himself a day after the team’s most recent loss at Pittsburgh. He was pointing to himself about providing leadership with winning proving hard to come by of late.

“When you win and get over the hump, it’s about leadership,” said Marrone. “I’m telling you now, I promise you as I stand here I’ve been through this before. I know we don’t like it. I know that feeling. It’s very easy for myself – I can easily go home after a game after that and find ways to take myself to a different place, meaning that it’s not going to hurt as much. But I don’t do that. I make it hurt in my stomach. I use that as motivation to get myself to go. I realize that through times like this no matter how you look at history and what you see, it always goes back to the leadership.

“We can talk about plays and we can talk about schemes all you want. That’s not what this is about. This is about making sure we’re accountable and being a leader. And that’s the one thing I can promise you that I will be able to take the coaches, take this team and take this organization to where we want to go.

“Is it going to be as fast as people want? No. Will it ever be as fast as anybody wants? Probably not. But is that our goal? Absolutely. Absolutely.

“I want to make sure we’re clear. Do I feel like I have time to turn this thing around? Hell no. Hell no. I know I have to turn this thing around now, today in what we do. So let’s make sure we’re on the same page here. I understand that it’s my responsibility.

“You know what? This is what I love. I love it. I want to be in this position. I love this part of what we do. What we choose to do because at the same time it would be so easy for me to stand up here and say, ‘Well third down, red zone, this and that.’ It would be so easy to not be in this profession and sit on the outside and say they should be doing this and they should be doing that, but that’s what separates me from the normal person. That’s what separates me from the fans. That’s what separates me from people in my job because I understand my responsibility.

“I would much rather be in the position I’m in to lead this team than to be on the sideline. I’d rather be in this position as a head coach than to be the assistant coach. I’d much rather be in this position now than to be the player. So I’m excited about what I have to get done and I’m ready to do it. And I’ve been trying to do it the whole time, but I have to do a better job of it.”